Starship Troopers (1997)

A rare example of when a bad adaptation of a book winds up making a good standalone movie. Near Kubrick-ian in its wartime satire, _Starship Troopers_ is, before it is anything else, fun.

_Final rating:★★★★ - Very strong appeal. A personal favourite._

Aug 29, 2017

##No time for regrets in the fury of battle
Again and again there are undertones in this movie that show us that the situation is not as simple as the leaders of the world portrayed in the film might want their underlings to believe. A reporter asks the question whether the humans were the ones who started the war and whether the Arachnids are simply acting in self-defense. A talk show guest finds the idea that there could be intelligent Arachnids preposterous, showing how much the propaganda has done to degrade the enemy. In a great scene we see the eye of one of the arachnids for the first time and for a second I was wondering what was going on inside the creature. Of course, this brief moment of reflection is quickly erased by a gun shot and the continuation of the fury of war.

But this, to me, seems to add to the overall anti-war message: The soldiers can only stay obedient servants if they are not given moments to reflect and question the system. And so when the viewer see the propaganda clip at the very end of the movie proclaiming triumphantly and bombastically "They'll fight and they'll win", they might have already forgotten that just a moment ago they saw a sentient being being tortured in the name of this promised glorious victory.

Sep 8, 2018

Good watch, will watch again, and can recommend, possible for a Bad Movie Night.

I'll start by saying the movie definitely isn't good, it's infamous for being a bad movie that people still love. Granted it was 1997, but the cg effects were horrendous. The practicals actually weren't so bad, but there are very few shots to actually appreciate them. Again, 1997, this movie is weirdly dated with its perception of what the future would have been.

For those that weren't familiar, this is most decidedly spurred by the popularity of Starcraft in the late 1990's, and that there weren't too many horde movies out there, at least not ones that weren't zombies. Clearly inspired by Starcraft's Zerg and Warhammer 40K's Tyranids, a bug by any other name.

The world is amazingly crafted, and we only see the tip of the iceberg. There could have been an entire "Star Trek" style series set in that universe. For the parts written all the acting is sufficient, the cannon fodder acts at the level of characters that would be thrown away, the stars are clearly the stars, and there is some hierarchy in between.

I honestly don't know how much better they could have casted this, but I imagine if the character work in the script had been better, then maybe they could have drawn a couple of names. There is a young Neil Patrick Harris, and Amy Smart, and Dina Myers was golden, but the other characters weren't exactly likable, and I can't figure out if it was the character writing or I just didn't like their faces. I get Denise Richards was a big deal, but her nose makes me remember the Grinch blooper where Carey bites off the mayor's nose, and even in "Wild Things" I thought Neve Campbell could do better.

The large picture stuff is a good enough, and it's filled with enough action and well placed comedy that it'll get you through the movie.

It's fun, please don't take it seriously. If i can do it then you can.

Jul 22, 2020

I remember when I watched this movie at the theatre in 1997. It was unlike any movie I had ever seen... dismemberment, blood & guts all over the place.
But it was all in context.
Verhoeven really had a way with deceptively smart satire and this movie is full of it (all the school children stomping on cockroaches saying "I'm doing my part").

This is a Paul Verhoeven masterpiece. Probably the most watched movie in my collection (right up there with RoboCop).

Absolutely NO similarities with Robert A. Heinlein's controversial Hugo Award-winning bestselling book of the same name. I loved the book and I loved the movie. And both for very different reasons!

Oct 1, 2022

Almost a classic.
Maybe it is a classic.
Another semi classic or classic by Verhoeven.
The "in your face" action is set to science fiction, this time with soldiers battling giant bugs from space.
These are big bugs.
I mean BIG BUGS!
And they're mean and evil.
The characters are especially likable.
The comic relief in this one comes mostly from the fight scenes to anonymous characters in "commercials".
The directing is probably what makes this as great as it is, but the writing is pretty dog gone good, too. While I prefer RoboCop, this is a great replacement movie for it, being the same style, if you can't see RoboCop. Some people prefer this one. The difference is so minute that you're safe either way.

Apr 18, 2023

You know, were this film maybe twenty minutes shorter then it would be quite a decent sci-fi action film. Sure, the cast is made up of pretty/handsome lightweight acting talent led by Casper Van Dien ("Rico”) but they do all gel quite well, providing us with quite a reasonable escapist effort. "Rico" is determined to enrol into the military to gain much sought after citizenship and to fight against the marauding Klendathan bugs. The story marries loads of typical gung-ho boot camp scenarios with some well photographed action scenes as our hero and his team of kick-ass buddies take on the gazillions of bugs intent on sucking out brains, tearing folks limb from limb and, generally, being a bit nasty! The dialogue is terrible, but that doesn't matter - this is a shameless piece of entertainment aimed squarely at folks who want to switch off their brain and watch a shoot-em up with loads of pyrotechnics, special effects and a bit of harmless eye candy. There are a couple of cameos from "Doogie Howser" himself (Neil Patrick Harris) - as a mind reading fellow clad in a rather SS-style uniform; Clancy Brown and Michael Ironside provide the physical (if not exactly cerebral) muscle and eagle eyed folks might even spot "Blanche" from the "Golden Girls" (Rue McClanahan) early on too. Never going to win any prizes for the script or the acting, but the effects were Oscar nominated and the action - after a rather slow start - proves to be pretty end-to-end, and enjoyable. No point watching if your brain needs stimulation, but worth it otherwise.

Jun 8, 2023